Goin' For Fun!: Make sure you see.....

Our family on CA State Park beach FULL of sea life in tide pools. Amazing!

In my last post I mentioned I am a control freak. It is true. However, now that I am home from our latest adventure I have learned that I have improved. I think they call this growth.

I bought the book to tell me how to see Disneyland. Where to eat, what to ride and what order to ride it all. I read it. All of it. Actually, it wasn't as horrible boring as one would think. It was helpful. I was armed with knowledge.

Sunrise and Full Moon

We spent a few mellow days on the beach before we returned the rental car and headed to Disney. My husband warned our children that they needed their sleep because Mom was going to go full throttle at Disney and they would need all the energy they could store up. My husband went to Disney World with me in 1999. Believe me, we partied like it was 1999 and did not miss a THING! It was exhausting.

As we started our first day at Disneyland, I spotted a mother of 4 running ahead of her crew with a LAMINATED map of the park and a grease pencil. Yes, it is true. I wish this woman could have seen her family's faces of bewilderment, anxiousness and just a general blank lost stare. My husband spotted her as well and asked me where I was hiding my laminated map of the park. I told him that we had plenty of time. Let's just have fun. I told him we could panic and over do it on the last day if we miss anything important. You could have knocked him over with a feather.

We had a wonderful trip. We were exhausted at the end of our days. One evening I was actually sleeping by 8:30 PM. We walked so much that I didn't gain a pound even though we ate burgers, fries, candy and ice cream throughout the entire trip.

We may have missed a few shows and a ride or two but here are the things we did not miss:

The utter delight and glimmer of adventure in their eyes when my children saw an ocean for the first time.

A first visit to an ocean.

My youngest being blown away at the things you can build from Legos when we visited Legoland.
The confidence glowing from my oldest son when he decided he was big enough and brave enough for Space Mountain and all the other "big" rides!
My youngest son poking Donald Duck in the tummy and saying, "I knew you were fuzzy and soft."
The look of pure and utter joy when Chip gave my 4 year old a knuckle bump.

www.legoland.com For the 8 and under crowd! Awesome!

Bob Hope at USS Midway

Suprise when Mom breaks out the cash for everyone to have a Mickey Mouse Ice Cream in the middle of the morning.
Sleepy whispers of requests to return to Disneyland tomorrow as we tucked their tired little bodies into bed.

My oldest son radiating pride and feeling like an adult when we let him ride the Goofy Sky School Coaster 7 times without Mom and Dad hovering over him.
A 4 year old believing he had really left the earth and gone to outer space when he rode Space Mountain.
Seeing my children try new things (The Tower of Terror) but knowing their limits by not wanting to ride it again.

Carstown was a favorite at Disney.

My youngest in the driver's seat of the monorail.

My kids feeling special when they were invited to ride with the driver on the monorail.

Giggles issuing forth from every mouth in our family. Simple fabulous glee and delight.
My husband and I feeling young, childlike.
Knowing my kids love travel, as they ask us where we are going next as we waited for the hotel shuttle to return us to the airport.
Feeling confident that it was money well spent when we return home and my boys can not stop pretending they are doing something again from our trip. (I just found them hiding in a closet playing Tower of Terror and Space Mountain.)

So, maybe we didn't see the Alladin show or ride It's a Small World (it was closed) but we had a wonderful family adventure. After all, isn't that what it is really all about! So, I hope the next time you are on the road with your crew you peek from behind your camera, put down the itinerary and just enjoy the moments. They are so few and they happen so fast.